Santa Cruz man to get third defense attorney in Hawaii homicide case

WAILUKU, MAUI - The man accused of killing Santa Cruz Assistant City Attorney Celestial Dove Cassman is expected to get his third defense attorney at a hearing on Monday, a judge in Maui ruled.

Gerald Galaway Jr. had hired private attorney William Sloper after his September 2011 arrest on suspicion of killing Cassman, 35. Sloper was replaced by a public defender, but their differences convinced a judge on Tuesday that Galaway needed a new court-appointed attorney.

The case has been stalled in part because mental health evaluations are not complete from three court-appointed psychiatrists, prosecutor John Kim said. Galaway has not released his full medical records for the evaluations, Kim said.

Galaway was charged with murder after Cassman was found dead under a tree off a Maui highway. An autopsy showed that she had been strangled, and Galaway fled from police that day by jumping from a cliff into the ocean.